Hinge structure for self-closing doors or the like, particularly glass doors or the like are known in the art.
These prior art hinge structures comprise, as is known, a stationary element to be fixed to the frame of a door, a first movable element to be attached to the door and pivotally mounted to the stationary element for rotating about a longitudinal axis between an open door position and a closed door position.
These prior art hinge structures further comprise means for automatically returning the door to said closed position during opening thereof.
These prior art hinge structures suffer from certain well-recognized drawbacks.
A first drawback is their bulky size, heavy weight and high cost, caused by their being formed of many different parts, which further complicate their assembly and maintenance.
Furthermore, they exhibit poor versatility and have to be replaced or anyway adjusted as the door or frame on which they are mounted changes.
Also, these prior art hinge structures do not assure controlled motion of the door during opening and closing thereof. This problem is particularly felt with glass doors, whose closing and opening movements must be smooth, to avoid irreversible damages to the door itself.
However, the behavior of these prior art structures is highly affected by the mass of the door on which they are mounted.
Furthermore, in operation, these prior art hinge structures are subjected to variations in their closing position, which leads to inconveniences and higher maintenance costs.
Moreover, the known structures do not allow the automatic closing movement of the door upon the opening.